It is estimated that by the year 2016, upwards of sixteen billion dollars ($16B) will be spent annually on blood glucose diagnostics and testing. This may be an inaccurately low estimate since many diabetics (and potential diabetics), for various reasons, are unwilling to test themselves. One of the most prevalent reasons has to do with the self-testing methodologies, which have advanced relatively little over the past 30 years. Most methodologies continue to rely on arcane finger pricking that can cause pain, discomfort, and inconvenience for users.
In recent years, efforts have been made to implement and bring to market various types of sufficiently accurate, non-invasive blood glucose concentration testing methods. Some of these methods include passing light waves through solid tissues, such as a fingertip or an ear lobe, and measuring the molecular absorption spectrum of glucose. Because of the variability of absorption and scatter of electromagnetic energy in solid tissue, these methods have been generally unsuccessful. Other methods include measuring blood glucose in various other body fluids, such as the anterior chamber, tears, and interstitial fluids. These methods have shown only limited success.
Another method that was once thought promising, centers around the discovery that the regeneration rate of visual pigment in the eyes depends strongly on the blood glucose concentration, and that visual pigment regeneration could be measured within seconds of bleaching the visual pigment in the retina of an eye. This methodology has thus far proved commercially unsuccessful due to its inability to measure subtle changes in blood glucose concentration from direct measurement of pigment regeneration.
Hence, there is a need for a relatively simple, painless, non-invasive system and method for determining a person's blood glucose concentration. The present invention addresses at least this need.